x, 297 pages ; 24 cm

This book brings together Henry A. Giroux's best-known essays from the last twenty years, centering on important subjects on the cultural studies and pop culture agenda, including violence, race, class, gender, identity, politics, and children's culture. The volume charts his career as one of the most astute observers of the Hollywood tradition, from early reflections on Norma Rae and Looking for Mister Goodbar to ground-breaking analyses of more recent movies such as Pulp Fiction, Dead Poets Society, Dangerous Minds, and Fight Club. By addressing the profound pedagogical role of film in contemporary society, Giroux demonstrates how it dramatically shapes the way young people come to terms with today's most charged social issues

Includes bibliographical references and index

Norma Rae: character, class, and culture -- Hollywood film and the challenge of neofascist culture -- Lina Wertmuller: film and the dialectic of liberation -- Looking for Mr. Goodbar: gender and the politics of pleasure -- Slacking off: border youth and postmodern education -- Culture, class, and pedagogy in Dead poets society -- Children's culture and Disney's animated films -- The politics of pedagogy, gender, and whiteness in Dangerous minds -- Media panics and the war against "kids": Larry Clark and the politics of diminished hopes -- Racism and the aesthetic of hyper-real violence: Pulp fiction and other visual tragedies -- Multiculturalism and the cultural politics of race in 187 -- Brutalized bodies and emasculated politics: Fight club, consumerism and masculine violence

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